The History of Stratford in the East of
London.

Stratford has an incredibly interesting history,
as do most places, and can be briefly described as follows: - Stratford Langthorne, in Essex started as a village, in the back waters of
east London, separated by the river Lea from Middlesex, a navigable waterway.
The Bow Bridge was built here in
1110, but not until the 1830's was a reasonable stone bridge built. An Cistercian Abbey
existed here from about 1135, built by William de Montfichet. Considerable local industry,
particularly the chemical industries built up in this area, and slowly the
marshes were reclaimed for light industry. Massive changes were heralded by the
building of the railways, and Stratford became a hub of the many railways in the
east of London, which it continues to this day. These changes also saw
disproportionate increases in the population, as compared to all other parts of
England.

It will become the major centre
for the Olympics in 2012, with the fantastic rail links that have built over a
century, and the Olympic village will be built upon an area that resembles the
old marsh lands of a century earlier, but soon to be a major International
sporting centre.

I started the history of the area with
transcriptions of various London Trade Directories, from the Whites 1848
Directory, that of the 1855 Post Office Directory and those of 1878, 1882 and
1886.
These give a generalistic overview of the area, which generously described the
Christian churches in an area; and included a listing of local residents and
commercial vendors in Stratford, Essex / London.

[Lots more to follow - this is a very new site,
all additional content is very welcome]

These trade directories do not include every
resident in an area, you need to check the local census for this, which exist
from 1841 through to 1901 at present, and are listed every ten years, There are
census taken every ten years since this time, but they are restricted from
public view to protect the anonymity of those whom may still be living.